The Indianapolis journal., 1887-10-05
The Eulogy.
The EuIOGy.
"Quis desiderio sit Jpudor aub modus.
Tam carl capitisl''

The EuIogy.
louis desiderio sit pudor aub nnodus.
Tam carl capitisl"
The task which has been assigned me would
be less of an honor were it less of a burden. It
overweights me. 1t brings back all my tears
Yet in undertaking it l yield to fascination
which is simply irresistible, for feel that my
movement towards the discharge of this sacred
trust ia in rhythm with those wider movements
which work out the mystery of special fitness,
ana finally expressE themselves in the music of
proportion and harmony. Were some other
man to claim this honor. on the ground of su-
perior genius, he should have it instantl y. with
my hearts absolute consent; but no man shall
lake it from the plea of larger love-
There should resist the impossible plea with a
positiveness redeemed from perversity by q
homage without flaw. and devotion undis-
tracted by those pedant;c and fastidious criti-
cisms, which, though intended to mark the i'm
partiality and perhaps the superiority of the
critic, destroy all that is inspiring in eulogy, aud
all that is magnanimous in justice. To my task
1 bring an entire love. If love may speak, my
speech is ready. If love is genius, I claim to be
called upon first. and the fact that each of
would claim priority, only shows that the
sainted name which we memorialze to-day
works like spell upon her imagination and our
reverence. and is in the keeping of universal
love.
AS Englishman, I claim, in this labor of
love. advantage which no American can yet
enjoy. Three thousand miles may be said to
represent not only a distance of locality, but
what is almost equivalent a distance of
time-that distance essential to true color
proportion, perspective; the distance which gets
rid of the detail, the friction, and the tumult
which cannot but vex the eyes with cross lights,
and perplex the judgment with the clamor Of
importunate contentious. Three thousand miles
away we saw only the outline Of noble figure,
heard only a clarion tongue, beheld only the
wizardry of superb imagination. and wondered
only at q scope aud power of prayer, together
constituting unique personality, which, with
hallowlng effect; touched at once our reverence
and our reason. We saw results and knew next
to nothing of processes. We thrilled under the
sacred symphony. and yet were spared the tun-
fore, Of a man like Mr.. Beecher, Christian Eng
iishmen are enabled to make history before the
time, and to award honor as if with serenity of
accumulated years. whilst some of the in
his own country. as to whose ability and SINGER
ity there cannot be shadow of
honest doubt, are yet unable to
escape the limitations of locality and vision
There is not little in the very genius Of
America and it's sovereign democracy that con-
firms and accounts for the sonship of its most
tllustrious citizens; they merely residents
inhabitants of productive leasehoders-they
are part and parcel Of its very substance and
destiny; their unigueness is incommunicable; of
precedent, patented usage and ceremonial status
they know nothing; they Free independent.
fearless; and if now and then too irreverent of
the past, it may be that their irreverence is
simply a recoil from the superstition which can
onizes custom and makes idol of antiquity.
America 10 emphatically the new world; in
conception. in enterprise, in impulse, in
Sf1 snd Vitally op' ns~. Yours are quni sbe 0issl
lnd noble conditions which make Henry Ward
Beechers possible. Henry Ward Beecher never
,ould have been in Europe what he was in
America You gave him scope; you created op-
portunites for him; your journals multiplied
his influences; your whole people applauded and
consolidated his Independence We must never
forget what the nation did for tho man, even
when remember most gratefully what the
man did for the nation. America lit is not too
much to say) redresses the balance of natious
by showing that Csesarsm Is neither necessary
to greatness nor required for security A free
country grows freemen, and freemen honor the
RESPONSIBILITIES of liberty.
i am not aware that any man ever
questioned Mr.. Beechers divine right to be a
preacher. About the vocation OF some men
there may have been kind of incertituds strug-
Cling with charity, degree of scepticsm miti-
gated by reluctant hopefulness; but in Mr..
Beecher's case the verdict was unanimous and
emphatic. He looked a preacher. and not the
less so than he looked man. He excited no
sentim ent by pale sickness of complexion. No
anxiety felt about his lungs when that
sonorous and stormy voice denounced the gam
bier, the sensualist, the pleasure-lover. and the
drum kard in those ardent lectures to young
dedicated to his father, which elected the
warmest commentators from the professors,
the judges the pastors, the editors. of America.
For fiery eloquence Mr. Beecher never sur
passed those lectures. though he may have
changed and ennobled his style, as Macaulay
drew away from the early essay Milton
ward the calmer mood of his Addison, his Bun
yan and his Goldsmith.
1t was the comparatively young teacher that
thundered in those lectures and that forewarne ed
the world that evil could protect itself against
the lightning of just indignation. Mr.. Beecner's
discourses unique in their intellectual
range, though not free from a certain monotony
Of conception and even form. Other men have
occasional power; now and again they can soar
high, aud work miracles in thought and elo-
puence some invisible moon brings up the tide |
and suffer days after in consequence of unusual |
expenditure of force. They thus amaze them
Delves and amaze others, and are pensively in |
puired about as who expected to recover
from their infinite fatigue
Mr. Beecher great without toll, mighty |
without exhaustion, and so redundant were his |
treated as commonplaces Other mems sermons
were but his introductions. Where they said |
Amen" to their relief and the delight of |
many he said FIRSTLY when they had gwen |
put all their bread. he began to load the tables |
with Intellectual luxuries drawn from every field
and vineyard accessible to pulpit genius. Then |
she monotony of the mere framework or outline |
was forgotten the multitude and vividness of |
the illustrations. which turned abstract truth |
Into concrete pictures. Mr.. Beecher had q su- !
preme gift of language, was betokened by his
pianet-,ke eyes-eyes as full as Shakespeare's, |
as radien - GIadstones, as expressive as tar
ricks. In the OF words he q NEGRO
maneer; unconsciousy large extent. for he !
pever knew how well he was expressing himself.
Yet to limit his eloquence 10 his words were
either ignorance or injnstice.
Fluency In a preacher is often disease; IN
some instances it is a crime-always crime
Thsn II deposes conscience, and prefers its own